Jewelry Design

My Addiction.

Jewelry Designs by Pamela Hunt Lee

Frequently I tell people painting is my passion and jewelry design is my addiction.  I love to look at and touch fabulous stones.  I spend hours working with suppliers all over the world to select unique, unusual stones and other elements to include in my jewelry designs. When I travel I am always on the lookout for what I might bring back to my design table.  Look at some of what arrived this week:

Pink and Purple Agates

Blue, Grey and Multi Hued Agates

The shapes, color and texture!!!  WOW!!!  The addiction kicked in.  I put my brushes aside and spent time working with the new stones.    

I approach the design of jewelry the same way I approach the creation of a painting.  A woman's neck is the canvas, the stones are the creative materials used to enhance the canvas.  Composition of the total piece is a critical part of the design, taking into consideration color, line, shape, and texture as I would in a painting.  Shine, matt finish and luminosity of the stones influence the final design. All of these elements must work and flow together to present a visual that is unique and pleasing as well as comfortable to wear.  

 This is the first completed necklace utilizing some of the new stones.  Large slabs of grey agate combined with Peruvian Andasite, Druzy Quartz, Moonstone, Carved Agate, Carnelian and a Removable Antique Enameled Butterfly Pin.

This is an addiction that is acceptable.  

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More Holiday Art

It's A Holly Jolly Christmas

As promised, the second inspiration.  It's a long story, but I will attempt to shorten.  For years, since I was a very young girl, I have drawn and painted holly.  In fact, for my very first commission ever I created baker's dough, clay wreaths with holly leaves and berries (I was 13, and that is a completely different and long story).  Almost always I used three leaves and three berries which would show up on homemade gift tags, note cards, decoration on stationery.  It was just a way to add a little holiday color to what ever I was doing, not art, just decoration.  Doodles, almost.  I never thought of painting this subject.

A couple weeks ago while listening to Holiday music the notes and words to Holly Jolly Christmas filled the air.  The snow wasn't falling, in fact it was very dry outside, not much snow on the ground, and the thought of painting more snowmen just wasn't going anywhere.  While the music played I was standing at the kitchen sink looking out through the window at a large, lush holly bush which is covered with brilliant red berries.  Hmmmm......

The palette from my most recent Desert Plant painting was filled with simple, basic, primary colors...perfect for Holly.  I ran into the studio, picked up the brush, grabbed a small canvas and started painting.  

Inspired by a song, a bush, and previous doodles.  It's a great time of year, and though there might not be snow, we can still have a Holly Jolly Christmas.  

Have a holly, jolly Christmas;

It's the best time of the year

I don't know if there'll be snow

but have a cup of cheer

Have a holly, jolly Christmas;

And when you walk down the street

Say Hello to friends you know

and everyone you meet.

To contact me click HERE

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Holiday Art

It's That Time of Year...

We are dreaming of a White Christmas, It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, we are in the meadow building a snowman....

And speaking of a snowman, do you remember the "Let It Snow" boys I painted last year?

Here they are awaiting their finishing touches.

 This one is what they looked like after the lettering went in.  It's sitting in a little easel on a counter top helping to add festive cheer to the house.  It is an annual decoration in my home and several others now.

This is the big guy I painted to hang outside our front door, and then the snow began to fall.  A talisman of sorts?

So now that it is time to paint a bit of festive cheer this year, I found myself inspired by two situations.  When I walked into the gallery of a designer who represents my work I found loads of red and green and candy everywhere, in every size, some real and some not so real. It was fun and joyful, so when I sat down to paint this is what happened:

Merry Merry Candy Snowmen

These Merry Merry little Snowmen, festooned with candy canes and peppermints are currently residing at Village Interiors in Incline Village where they are Holiday priced at $50 each which includes a black wooden easel.  They are perfect additions to holiday decorating, and can make an appearance year after year with or without the snow in the meadow.  

Village Interiors

775-831-8868

Incline Village, NV

And yes, I did say I was inspired by two different situations, so check back next week to read and see about the second.  It's a fun story.  It looks like snow might fall tonight making it seem more and more like Christmas around here.

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Desert Art

Goal Accomplished!!!

Prickly Pear Blossom II

30 x 48

It's good to set goals and even better to reach them.  So what is a goal, anyway??  In this case it is not those upright posts through which someone kicks or carries a ball, but a desire that is important enough to a person that it requires effort to reach. Earlier this week I knew I wanted to complete this painting before leaving my studio for Holiday travel,  so I set the goal of having it done by the end of the week. 

It did take some effort.  Making time to paint during this busy month took effort, so did standing there dipping the brush into the pigment and applying it to the canvas. And it took the effort of balancing the color and values. Dare I say it took effort to claim the work complete?

Effort aside, it's done, and it is the end of the week.  Goal reached, goal accomplished.  Kicked that ball through the uprights!  Metaphorically anyway.

Time to set new goals.

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Prickly Pear Painting

A Chilly Week In The Desert

Oh my.  The entire country is COLD.  To be expected in December?  Yes, but here in the studio, I continue to visualize the warm desert and work on this Prickly Pear painting.  All the paddles are in though there will be more shadowing eventually.  The time has come to work on the fantasy flower.

Most of the flower has been laid in, however I realize I would like to add one more petal, so I am leaving the computer, returning to the easel.

When an artist puts a brush in her hand, sometimes unexpected changes occur.  So from the image above to the image below, the addition of a couple petals, not just one.  It was a intuitively visual necessity. 

While working on the petals I thought I would add in the stamen and pistol parts of the flower after a slight adjustment to the base under the blossom.  The flower didn't look balanced without this change.

That's it for now.  Check back to see the painting as it comes to conclusion.  My goal is to complete it this week.  Then these cold temps will inspire Holiday themed work.   At least being cold is a type of inspiration.

To contact me click HERE

To visit my web site click HERE